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A CDP delegate's indelicate insider's view

Contributed by: Mike Daniels on 5/8/2008

The sun was shining, politics was in the air and trying to find a parking spot at Dakota Ridge High School near C-470 and W. Bowles on May 3 was truly a challenge.

Many apparently gave up and parked their cars where they knew they shouldn't just to get inside the school ASAP for the 6th Congressional District Democratic Convention & Assembly.

People of all demographics drove to the Littleton area high school from Arapahoe, Douglas, Jefferson, Park and Elbert counties. Delegates were told to arrive early, by 8 a.m. and alternates were asked to arrive even earlier for the best chance to be seated to replace an absent delegate.

I was a delegate but didn't arrive at the school until 9:15 knowing the convention was supposed to start at 10 a.m. and also knowing that these political gatherings rarely start when they're supposed to start. In fact, the assembly didn't officially begin until 12:45 p.m. due to delays in seating alternates.

So who was there you might ask? I'll tell you. Pat Waak, the chair of the Colorado Democratic Party was there, but only long enough to introduce other notables and tell those assembled from the various counties in CD6 how wonderful they are and what great advances Democrats are making in their respective districts.

There were also some welcomes from HD38 Representative Joe Rice, Arapahoe County Commissioner Pat Noonan, Jefferson County Commissioner Kathy Hartman, and CU Regent Steve Ludwig as well as others from the RTD Board and local city councils.

The big draw this year was that anyone who wants to be a delegate at the Democratic National Convention in Denver this summer has to participate in the precinct caucuses and then the county, congressional district and state conventions to be elected by their peers to represent them at the national convention.

National convention delegate candidates were plentiful indeed! There are only about 80 Colorado Dems National Delegate spots to be filled, yet in Jefferson County alone there were more than 170 Democrats who had applied to become delegates to the National Convention.

Consequently, as an official delegate to the Congressional and State Assemblies and Conventions, I had received phone calls and mailings from fellow CD6 Dems prior to May 3 who were hoping to be elected as a National Delegate and asking for my vote.

Then on May 3, these same people were paraded in front of us and given 30 seconds or so to say who they were and how they would represent either Clinton or Obama at the DNC.

When we finally got down to business and the Assembly began, we the Delegates, heard from the CD6 candidate for CU Regent, AJ Clemmons and we were quite impressed.

This young lady can float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. She is articulate, well educated and experienced with meaningful not for profit organizations and is a real fighter. Literally!

AJ Clemons is also a Golden Gloves boxing champ and symbolically donned her boxing gloves to say she's ready to fight for us and take on those who would deny our youth an affordable, world class education at the state's flagship institution of higher learning.

Next we heard from those who nominated the CD6 candidates who seek to win the US Congressional seat currently held by Republican Tom Tancredo who is walking away from the role after several terms representing this conservative district and a lackluster attempt as a presidential candidate.

Henry "Hank" Eng, a GE Aircraft Engineer with international business experience was presumed to be the sole offering after Vietnam veteran, Mike Collins, stepped aside due to health reasons.

However, two other hopefuls threw their hats into the ring at the last minute to compete with Eng for a place on the ballot. After Eng was nominated he spoke for a few minutes and then 73-year old Ivan Botvin and 41-year-old Steve Clark were both nominated and they too shared why they wanted our votes.

When all was said and done and the votes were counted only Hank Eng received the necessary 30 percent of the votes to make the ballot. One of the other two candidates did reach the 10% threshold which allows him to petition to be on the ballot if he chooses to do so but it's doubtful he'll pursue it.

Once the assembly concluded, it was then time to seat Alternates to the Convention which required another delay or should I say 'intermission" for Delegates to get to know each other and meet those who were running for the National Delegate slots.

After the Alternates were seated for both the Clinton and Obama camps, we were given a chance to see who was running for elector from CD6, (the person who actually casts the vote for the district at the DNC based on the number of Delegate votes), and then the Clinton Delegates left the gymnasium and walked over to the auditorium while the Obama Delegates remained in the gym.

At that point we were again, ad nauseam, made aware of who was running for DNC Delegates and told we were to select three women and three men. We then began to line up to go out into the lobby to officially receive our ballots and vote. I had no trouble deciding who to choose from the various and many dedicated Obama supporters and as I learned on May 5 via an email from the Colorado Democratic Party, almost all of those I had voted for prevailed.

The Colorado Democratic Party's State Convention and Assembly is in Colorado Springs on Saturday, May 17 and I'll be a delegate there as well.

My "credentials" should arrive this week and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone who's anyone in Colorado Democratic politics as well as some nationally known players at that event.


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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Mike Daniels

Buffalo Creek , CO

Mike Daniels has posted 75 stories and 1 comment since joining on 3/8/2007. Mike Daniels 's average story rating is 4.48.
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